


Take It Down a Notch

by runawayballista



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-21
Updated: 2012-03-21
Packaged: 2017-11-02 07:08:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/366320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/runawayballista/pseuds/runawayballista
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>York tries to get Carolina to take it easy on herself after things don't go exactly as planned on their last mission.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Take It Down a Notch

All’s quiet on board, and York can’t quite process it. It’s been hours since they got back to the _Mother of Invention_ , and his ears are still ringing with shouting and gunfire, though now it’s died down to a ragged buzz humming in the middle of his head. He’s tired, but he knows he’s still hours away from sleep. He thinks a shower might help, maybe a little -- at the very least, the sound of the water might drown out the echoes in his ears that refuse to fade.

He tugs at one ear, annoyed, and wonders if this has anything to do with the grenade fire. The real casualty there was his eye, but he wonders if this isn’t part of the package, too. He can’t remember the last time his hearing was this jacked up after a mission. It feels like someone took the effects of a flashbang and carefully drew them out over the course of twenty-four hours. He tries popping his jaw. The relief is, of course, temporary.

The tension that still pulls his shoulders taut as he walks toward the showers is residual and tired. He places a hand on one shoulder and rolls it carefully, and he lets out a sigh of deep relief as some of the muscles finally relax. He’s gonna sleep good tonight. He’d _better_. 

When he passes the briefing room, there’s a stark silhouette against the ranking board. The color of her armor is drowned out by the dark and the faint blue halo cast around her, but she has her helmet off, and even the sharp blue light of the screen can’t drown out the brilliant red of her hair. York doesn’t know how long she’s been standing there, but she isn’t moving. She looks a little stiff.

She’s alone in the briefing room, until York steps sideways in. “Carolina?”

“What do you want.” It’s less of a question than a sharp-edged demand. But York is used to her barbs and spines, and he sidles on over to her in despite the stark lack of invitation. 

“It’s late. Saw you in here. Figured I’d see what’s up.”

She doesn’t answer, not right away, and York inches closer. He glances at her face. She isn’t reading the ranking board, she’s glaring at it. Her eyes are fixed, unmoving, on the space between the top two rankings. There’s hardly anything between them -- and yet, the distance is immeasurable. York follows her gaze and clucks his tongue.

“You know, staring at that thing all night isn’t gonna make it change,” he says, and Carolina doesn’t say anything, just tightens her jaw. He sighs, leaning back to rest a hand on the table behind them. “Come on, Carolina. Let it go.”

“Leave me alone, will you?” The words come out somewhere halfway between a growl and a hiss, and they catch in her throat just slightly. York doesn’t move. 

“You’re not doing any good beating yourself up over it,” he says. “So Tex grabbed the briefcase before you could get to it. We completed the mission and we came back in one piece. Well, mostly.” He clears his throat. “It’s over, Carolina. Time to move on to the next one.”

“She _beat_ me,” Carolina mutters, more to herself than anything. “I was so close, and she -- ”

“Yeah, and?” York demands. “Now you’re the number two. Hey, I was your number two for a while. You’ll live, I promise.” He keeps his tone light, tries to shave off some of the weight that’s settled over the room, but he isn’t very successful. Carolina just snorts.

“That’s different,” she says, and York rolls his eyes.

“Well, thanks.”

“You don’t understand, York. You don’t -- it’s _different_ for me, okay? I’ve got...” She trails off, but he can fill in the rest in his head -- _expectations, expectations that the others don’t have, promises to keep, debts to repay_...

“Yeah. I know.” York resists the urge to scratch at the skin around his eye, redirecting his fingers to the back of his neck. “But there’s nothing we can do about it now. The mission didn’t go as planned. We had a few surprises. But it’s over now, and we got what we went in for.”

“But it went _wrong_.”

“Look, Carolina, just because Tex -- ”

“It’s not just about the briefcase, York. It’s _everything_ that went wrong.” She moves for the first time now, head swinging around to face him. “We might’ve got what we went in for, but we fucked up. _This_ \--” She throws an accusatory finger at the ranking board. “ _This_ is proof of that. We didn’t perform to expectation, York. Our escape plan failed. We blew up the _whole fucking building_. And Maine -- Maine’s still in surgery, last I heard.”

York meets her gaze with his, his mouth twisted in a doubtful frown. “And all of that’s _your_ fault.”

“It’s my _responsibility_ , York. I was leading the team. A lot of things that happened today _shouldn’t_ have happened.”

“Oh, and you’re the _only_ one to blame, huh? Come on, Carolina. If you’re just upset about the ranking, then don’t -- ”

“I was number one for a reason, York!” Even in the dark, he can see her eyes flash. “I was number one because the Director _trusted me_ , and then everything blew up in our faces! And he sent in his new pet agent without even telling us, like she was some kind of failsafe, like he _expected_ us to fuck it up. And now Maine’s in critical condition, and we’ve revealed too much to the Insurrection, and I’m down to number two.”

There are faint traces of annoyance in the lines of York’s face, but all he does is straighten up and face Carolina. He crosses his arms. “Hey, if you’re gonna play the blame game, at least play fair.”

Her eyes narrow, but her expression is confused, not angry. “What are you talking about?”

York glances away, studying the featureless wall just past her. “If I hadn’t tripped that alarm, we probably would have had a lot less shit to deal with, that’s for sure.”

“Ugh, York, don’t even _start_ \-- ”

“Don’t start _what_? It’s the truth.” York raises an eyebrow. “I was brought along because of my particular skill set. You guys were depending on me. And I messed up, plain and simple.”

“You just got out of the hospital,” she says. “Your eye -- ”

“So now you’re in the business of making excuses for me? Come on, Carolina. You keep that up, someone’s gonna start rumors.” He smirks for a moment, but it just as soon dissolves into a significantly less amused expression. “If you thought my eye was really gonna be a problem, you wouldn’t have brought me along.”

“Yeah, well.” She scowls, shaking her hair away from her face. “Even with only half your game, you’re still better than Wash when it comes to infiltration.” There’s almost a fond note to her voice, but it’s buried under so many layers of bitter frustration that it’s hard to tell. York lets out a breath of a laugh.

“I’m sure he’d be thrilled to hear it. Look, today went to hell, Carolina. There’s enough hurt going around. You don’t have to make up stuff to be upset about.”

She gives him a look, lips pursed thin. “I’m not --”

“If you’re going to be pissed about the ranking, be pissed about the ranking. Don’t turn it into a whole big thing.” York pauses, then reaches out and puts a firm hand on her arm. “Okay?”

If it were anyone else, anyone but him, she’d tell them to fuck off, shake them away. But it’s York, and he knows he can get away with it. So instead, she just lets out a frustrated sigh, rubbing at her forehead with one hand.

“You’ve gotta be a little nicer to yourself sometimes, Clare.” He cocks his head a little to the side, trying to make eye contact. “If you spend so much time beating yourself up over it, how do you think that’s going to affect your performance next time?”

“Don’t you start nagging me, _Neil_.” She’s annoyed, but she doesn’t look so hard around the edges anymore. “I’m still ranked above you, you know.” 

“Yeah, and if you want to rank above _everyone_ , you’re gonna have to bring your A game next time.” He gives her a slightly dumb grin. “I mean, don’t you want to take Tex down a notch or two?”

It’s such a lame attempt at cheering her up, but even so, Carolina has to roll her eyes and make a face at him to mask the small smile that threatens to creep across her features. “It’s not going to be that easy.”

“Of course not. You wouldn’t be where you are if anything was _easy_.” He nudges her with his elbow, still grinning, the persistent ass he is. It looks a little twisted in the dark with his bad eye, all milky white framed in searing red skin, but somehow that just makes it a little easier for her to swallow. “So, come on. How’s about we get out of here, do something fun for a change?”

But to his mild dismay, Carolina shakes her head and turns back to the ranking board. “Thanks, but no thanks, York. I’ve got some things I need to do.” Her face is no longer hard and angry, though, and in the blue light of the screen, she almost looks like she’s smiling. “I can’t let him down.”

York shrugs and lets out a breath that’s almost a sigh, but he doesn’t look annoyed anymore, either. “Suit yourself. Just -- make sure you sleep sometime. Can’t have you asleep on the job later.” He flashes her one last smile, gives her a pat on the arm, and heads for the door. But he stops just short of the hallway, hand on the wall, and turns his head. “Hey, does it count for anything if I say you’re still my number one?”

She tries to make a disgusted sound in the back of her throat, but it just comes out as an awful laugh. She doesn’t want to admit it, at least not right then, but his penchant for terrible flirting is just uplifting enough. “You cheesy _asshole_ ,” she turns to say, but he’s already gone and out the door.


End file.
